Pointing out issues in suggested improvements is not the same as resistance to change. (For what it's worth, my own record would include pointing out such issues, stating my approval of proposals, estimating the low probability of a marginal-value feature getting added, and making my own suggestions.)

First, most forums that I participate in that have photos displayed in the post are on much more advanced forum software. Photos posted directly in the posts (and animated gifs and videos, etc) are a double edged sword. I think they are fine in many forums but those forums usually have an active moderation.

With minimal moderation in these boards, I suspect that pictures could become problematic...especially in some of the forums.

So, although I am against pictures in the forum here, it is not because I am against change, but because I just don't see this site changing enough to adequately handle some suggested changes w/out a MAJOR overhaul of how the site operates.

EDIT: Oh, and I still don't see why the majority of members would be interested of a picture showing he is at the stadium.

<<<<"There are times, that I feel if I could post a photo inside this box it might be useful. For instance, a photo of a place where I happen to be ie: Dolphins stadium, or similar.">>>>

"Such a predictable response by those regulars who are resistant to change and can find something wrong with any practically any suggested improvement."

I'll assume that's me that's being commented on. I just don't see the value of putting photos in the discussions when there's already options for posting photos (in the profile, in albums, and in the avatar). If the suggestion was a "hot link" to the albums under the member's screen name in the message board, that might be useful (in letting others know the member has photos to see), but it's not resistance to change, but simply that I don't see the value of photos in the discussions.

And, if anything, as scoutmaster noted, it will slow loading, and we already have complaints (and suggestions) about how to speed things up on this website.

For me, it would be nice for me to see a photo while on this forum, either one I have posted or someone else has posted. Links, are fine, but I like 1 stop shopping and feel it would be so much easier to be able to post here, instead of having to go through message boards, or uploading a photo to my profile page etc. If there was a way to post a photo here, I might post some. Adding an additional step or two would be enough for me not to post any photos. I was asked and I am giving my opinion. I hereby rescind the request for a second time, unless it is something that the majority might say would be a good addition to the site.

"Allowing a member to include a picture in their post would improve the forums in my opinion, especially if the means to do so included the ability to display a picture from the member's gallery, thus providing a relatively easy mechanism."

Byte_Doc,

I see your point but having pictures in the forums would slow down the loading. Why not just post a link to those pictures?

Such a predictable response by those regulars who are resistant to change and can find something wrong with any practically any suggested improvement.

And yet, it is a rare forum that does not allow pictures in the posts and none I have seen seem to suffer from the problems cited as reasons it should not be done. There have been several posts here in SAGBI and TBTU that could have benefited from pictures to show what was being discussed and in some of those the poster resorted to linking to an image hosted elsewhere, in other cases they didn't have the means or knowledge of how to do so or simply chose not to and resorted to attempting to describe in words what would have been instantly clear by use of an image.

Allowing a member to include a picture in their post would improve the forums in my opinion, especially if the means to do so included the ability to display a picture from the member's gallery, thus providing a relatively easy mechanism.

I didn't see any "angst" in the responses, just members noting that there already a venues for posting photos. I personally don't see that the discussion forums need to be an alternative to Facebook and/or other "social media" (but for all I know I may be in the minority).

As noted, you can change your avatar or your member identification picture as frequently as you want. If that doesn't suffice, you could always note in your post/in your text that you've updated your pictures or albums and ask people to look at them there.

I agree with maxstar that allowing photos in the discussions could create an unnecessary workload for the moderators as the discussions could be (not necessary "are", but "could be") than photos in a member's profile in a member's albums. I don't see a problem, however with a simple text post "I've uploaded photos of me at Dolphin's stadium to my profile page...uploaded an album of photos of me at the Dolphins-Falcons game", etc.

One of the things that could be a problem with posting photos in the discussion topics is that you might post a single photo, size notwithstanding, but the next person posts a photo...or two...or three...and the next person adds his/her photos to the discussion instead of to their profile page or albums. We already have enough problems with frivolous posts in the more substantive discussions; I can't imagine how bad the problem would be having people post photos of gas stations or gas pump prices "to get their point across", let alone (and it's not picking on you) pictures of themselves "somewhere". If this could be limited to the Just For Fun discussion category it might be different but I'm pessimistic that it would simply be a problem in most discussions. Better to "socialize" on social media.

And, again, there's no "angst"; it's simply an interesting suggestion that for which I see more problems than value.

I seriously doubt if all the pictures will be as benign as a football stadium particularly in some of the more contentious topics. The moderators have enough to do without needing to review the appropriateness of photos within discussions.

There are times, that I feel if I could post a photo inside this box it might be useful. For instance, a photo of a place where I happen to be ie: Dolphins stadium, or similar. Photos inside this box next to the message might add something to someone's post. It would be something I think might be useful, but I see it seems to be causing some angst with other members, but you did ask. One photo in the box, with text.

Just wondering, what type of photos were you interested in or where did you want them posted? Or, what answered your question? Just trying to see that we closed the loop for you or answered your questions to your satisfaction.

It would be a simple matter to make a user preference as to whether inline photos would be desired. If he opted NO, then the reader would see a link instead, or alternatively, one of those can't-show-this blocks. The only reason a reader would opt out is to reduce his bandwidth requirements, or maybe it is a vision-impaired user.

Another way to do it is to provide thumbnails inline with clickability to full-screen if the reader wishes.

The other aspect is GBO's bandwidth. What with all the ads, etc., a few photos here and there probably wouldn't matter. After all, if that was really important, GBO wouldn't be providing the photo albums in the first place.

I agree with kwzh. If this request is to add photos in the posts, I say no. There is no point and it would only slow the site down. If you really have a need to post photos, Nomo, start a photo album under your profile.

My guess is that we're talking about photos here in the forum, and that the request is to allow posting them inline rather than posting links to them.

I disapprove. I don't want to have to wait for photos to load, and I expect that in the majority of cases where someone might post a photo to the site, I won't care enough to want to see it anyway. I'm happy with the status quo keeping them one click away. (I typically use imagebin myself; it has a two-week time limit, which tends to be longer than the active lifetime of a discussion thread, and it seems to have a minimal amount of additional clutter surrounding the image.)

And just to make sure this question has been totally answerfied, you can also link to photos posted at other Websites. You can post photos on any photo service (Photobucket, Flickr, etc.) and then use the Insert Link button on the left of any forum msg dialog box to link to individual photos or albums. This may be necessary if you need to allow viewers to see some tiny detail in a large scene that they could only see by downloading a larger pix than which is displayed by GB, or maybe your pix is just so glorious that only a larger-than-full-screen size will do.

You can already post photos to identify yourself (along with your screen name, in your case you choose to have "fish" as your identifying photo); you can already post photos of gas stations in the Master Station List; and you can post photos and/or albums on your profile page (as well as see the albums (photos) of your buddies on your profile page.